With the weather varying from mild to below freezing (on a weekly basis!) it’s important to keep your outside pets safe and warm. Ensuring hutches and hen houses are suitably protected from the elements, providing extra bedding and moving pets to a more sheltered part of the garden - or even moving them inside to a shed or garage - will all help.
Remembering to check their water throughout the day is really important - but sometimes forgotten. This is essential, as it freezes so quickly - and takes a lot longer to defrost. Insulating the water holder can help, but nothing is better than checking yourself!
As well as ensuring their habitats are protected from the elements and that their food and water is freely and easily accessible, it’s important to remember they still need exercise and natural day light; so, don’t keep them tucked away 24/7!
Whilst ensuring your outdoor pets are kept warm and safe, let’s not forget our indoor ones such as hamsters and gerbils. They, too, may need extra bedding if they’re in a colder room; but, if they’re located next to a heat source which is on more than normal, it’s important to check that they’re not overheating and that their water hasn’t dried out.
Keeping bedding and hutches clean is always the norm; but in extreme weather it’s even more important to keep things fresh and the air circulating.
If your pet gets too cold and is unable to warm up, they could be at risk of hypothermia. Hypothermia is a risk to all, but the young, elderly and sick are more at risk. Should you suspect your pet has hypothermia it’s essential you contact a vet. Signs include, but aren’t limited to, your pet becoming unusually lethargic and sleepy, struggling to co-ordinate or stumbling, shivering, pale gums and, in severe cases, slipping into a coma.
Whilst contacting the vet, get your pet somewhere warmer (not too warm, as a dramatic temperature increase can be a shock to them) and slowly warm them up with towels or blankets (under them as well as over them) being careful not to get them too warm too fast. Make water accessible for them to hydrate and, if they’re wet, start drying them gently. As difficult as it may be, remain calm throughout; describing the facts to your vet correctly and following your vet’s instructions thoroughly, will help your pet.
Here at Leading the Way, we offer a range of services that include (but aren’t limited to) dog walking, enrichment activities for cats and small animals and comforting home visits to spend precious time with your pets and to oversee their daily needs such as emptying litter trays, changing water bowls and feeding.
If you would like more information on any of the services that Leading the Way Pet Care provides, please contact us via please contact us via email or phone us on 0800 027 9846.